DJI’s latest pair of drone goggles are designed for racing

Drone maker DJI has released a new version of its DJI Goggles for drone racers. They’re called the DJI Goggles RE, short for racing edition. The original DJI Goggles went up for presale this past April and, like those, the DJI Goggles RE look a bit like a VR headset and let you control a drone with just your head movements and see from the device’s point of view, so long as the goggles are in head-tracking gimbal mode. While the original goggles are white, these come in matte black with red leather on the headband.

These new goggles are also compatible with non-DJI branded drones and third-party flight controllers like the F3 and Naze. The DJI Goggles RE support Sphere panoramic viewing and video streaming with the OcuSync Video Transmission Module, which has 12 transmission channels designed to reduce interference during a race, when multiple drones are likely flying by one another.

To that end, there’s an automatic frequency-hopping spread spectrum transmission, which jumps to the 2.4 and 5.8 GHz channels, depending on which has the least noise. The transmission module can reach latencies as low as 50ms. The transmission resolution is decent at 1280 x 960 and it has a maximum control range of 4.3 miles.

You’ll also have the option of connecting two pairs of the goggles together so another person could watch and control a drone alongside you. DJI’s new model starts shipping at the end of this month for $549, just missing Black Friday weekend. But there does happen to be a bundle with the OcuSync Air System and DJI Goggles Backpack that goes for $859.